Stefanie Leder, author of LOVE, COFFEE, AND REVOLUTION

Stefanie Leder is a TV showrunner and writer whose credits include the MTV teen dramedy Faking It, TBS comedy Men at Work, Netflix’s Boo, Bitch, and the long-running ABC Family comedy Melissa & Joey. She is also a guest lecturer on television writing at the Low Residency MFA at UCR. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she spent a year abroad in Costa Rica and has worked for a nonprofit on Fair Trade Coffee and anti-sweatshop campaigns. Love, Coffee, and Revolution is her first novel. You can also read her award-nominated short story, “Not a Dinner Party Person” in Eight Very Bad Nights; A Collection of Hanukkah Noir, or in the upcoming The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025.

Stefanie joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett at Arvida Book Company in Tustin, California, to talk on the patio before a live audience. They talk about bringing out a project after letting it sit for many years, writing for TV, the crossover from scriptwriting to writing fiction, why she plots, structure, and much more.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners!

(Recorded on July 20, 2025)

Barbara’s book of short stories, Pool Fishing, will be published on September 16 by Kelp Books. Read more about it and pre-order here.

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)